by Joy Johnson
“No, that's my name,” I corrected.
“Or you could call them the, Kharon,” Lokhem continued as he sat down in the ashes at our feet. I stared at him in disbelief.
“Kharon, and Mal'akh-mashhit, are both old words for what you are; the bringer of death unto the land of the living. You are a Death Dealer, young Mal,” Lokhem said slowly. My eyes searched the sea of foreign creatures; their eyes black as night, and their hair darker than a raven's feathers.
“If I'm one of them, why don't I have wings?” I asked quickly with a spark of rebellion in my heart.
“You are part human on your father's side. You don't have wings because you are not a full blood Death Dealer. However, I think this will be remedied in time. Perhaps you must learn to call upon them,” Lokhem said thoughtfully.
“How is that even possible?” I yelled incredulously. Lokhem took a deep breath and nodded to a fidgeting white dressed creature near him. She stared at me with wide black eyes, and glanced at Lokhem. I groaned when I realized what was about to happen. The sound of her voice in Lokhem's mind was strange but no more strange than when it filtered through our telekinetic link into mine.
“From the beginning of the Earth,” she began with a lofty sounding voice, “certain members of our kind, Death Dealers, have dwelt among the humans. We have learned to adapt to their ways of life and blend in. We have done this so that we would be better able to extract them when it became necessary. I believe this process is what Lokhem says you refer to as, 'vanishing.' Over the ages, it is sometimes many generations before we are allowed to come home to the High Realm of Megorim Habayit. During those generations away from home, it is hard to abstain from emotional connections. We believe that your mother -” I held up a hand to stop her.
“Okay, wait. What does she mean by 'lived among us so that they would be better able to extract us'?” I growled at Lokhem.
“Earth is dying young one,” Lokhem said gently. I was taken aback.
“You have seen its death with your own eyes. It is a death the humans have brought to Earth,” Lokhem said gently.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The humans created great workings of mass destruction. These great monstrosities they foolishly used upon each other without regard for what would happen to the Earth. Their greed consumed them and blinded them to what was happening,” the female Death Dealer answered. Confusion filled me. I didn't understand.
“Let me show you,” Lokhem replied to my unspoken questions. A vision of a tiny baby boy appeared within my mind. We watched him grow into a child that loved nothing more than to paint. His parents coddled him and encouraged him. They told him that he was special and that his paintings were special. We watched him grow, and as the boy turned into a man; he began trying to trade his paintings for bits of green paper and shiny pieces of metal.
We watched this healthy young man become hungry and homeless. We watched as people passed him on their way to destinations unknown without a second glance. They ignored his outstretched, dirty fingers. Some of them laughed at him and spat in his direction.
An angry fire bloomed in the young man's heart toward the people who walked passed him. We watched helplessly as he neared the point of starvation. Relief came to me when I watched him find shelter with the only people who would have him; strangers who strapped an odd looking vest to his chest. It had shiny silver containers with thin metal wires all over it.
I watched as he returned to the place that he nearly starved to death. He cried out just once, then exploded into a cloud of fire. My heart ached as I watched the fire consume all the other lives near him. I watched as they all burned alive, screaming in agony; a black crater the only proof that the young man ever existed.
I begged Lokhem to stop the memory, and when the vision of it finally left my mind, I fell to my knees weeping. I could still smell the burning flesh when Lokhem placed a heavy paw on my shoulder to comfort me.
“Unfortunately, small one, this was just the beginning,” Lokhem whispered sadly. Then a new horror visited my mind. The vision of massive silver containers bigger than any I have ever seen filled giant buildings. They looked a lot like larger versions of the ones strapped to the young man's chest, but these were loaded by humans into large flying structures. I watched as the humans dropped them from the air. I felt the power of the impact upon the ground when they exploded. They rained fire and burned the Earth. Great shock waves spread out from them, killing every living thing in their path.
“With the creation of the humans' nuclear bomb, came the beginning of Earth's end,” Lokhem said.
“The Earth was not built to withstand that kind of destruction, and so when the humans began to use them on each other to gain power over one another, the Earth began to die,” the Death Dealer added.
“But why? Why would the humans ever want to hurt each other so badly?” I cried, my tears rolled freely down my face.
“Let's go back to the young man,” Lokhem said, pulling away and beginning to pace once more.
“Do you remember the bits of green paper and shiny metal he tried to trade his paintings for?” Lokhem questioned. I had thought that was a bit odd. My hands wiped my tears away and I nodded.
“Those things were what humans called, Money. Some humans used this creation as a tool to attain the things their greed pushed them toward. Other humans used it as a tool to encourage great success, health, and prosperity. A fight broke out over this which brought on the use of these nuclear bombs. Eventually, the group of humans that wanted to use the money as a tool to encourage humanity's wellbeing became smaller and smaller,” Lokhem finished.
“However, by the time the fight between the humans ended, Earth was no longer capable of supporting life. This is why we are here, Mal. We are taking the humans that remain to our home. In the High Realm of Megorim Habayit, their Souls will be safe until the Earth can be re-made by our great Guardian,” the Death Dealer whispered. She came to my side, and knelt down. Her hands were as soft as my mother's when she clasped my face. I felt a warmth spreading through me from her hands as she rubbed her thumbs tenderly over my cheeks.
“But there is a problem, young Mal,” she added.
“A human must choose to accept our Guardian into their Soul, before we can take them into our world. It is called, The Test of Love. They must say with their own lips that they are sorry for their Earthly sins, and then ask our Guardian to come into their hearts,” she said gently. She took a nervous breath then added with a more firm tone, “Otherwise, the Soul of the human burns with its body in the transition through the gateway. The human must have our Guardian's grace within them in order to survive in our world.” Lokhem gave me a nod when my eyes found his.
“This is why I told you a few nights ago that in a way, we are hurting the humans we take. The humans who have embraced our Guardian, complete the transition into our world with ease. However, the ones whom do not…” Lokhem couldn't finish his sentence. I pulled away from them and swallowed the lump in my throat.
“But why do you have to continue taking us? All the things you have shown me happened before my time. The place where I live has trees and life growing there. We could continue living in that place. We could learn from our past and start over,” I protested. Lokhem shook his head sadly.
“The place you live within is only a small section of the Earth. It still lives now, but given less than a decade, even the borders on that small paradise shall begin to recede. The fresh water supply of this world has become too polluted by nuclear waste to sustain life much longer. Soon, that small patch of living Earth will become one with the dry waste lands that I have shown you earlier. There is no way for our kind, or the human kind, to reverse what has been done,” Lokhem replied calmly. Tears continued to roll down my cheeks as I stood and began pacing. My hand tapped the hilt of my machete faster and faster with my mounting stress. I didn't know where to go, but I didn't want to be there; the spectacle of a dying species on a dying p
lanet.
Lokhem understood and spoke to the gathered Death Dealers. As they began to leave, their wings fluttering through the sky to meet their Cherubim awaiting them, but the Death Dealer that had spoken to me stayed. A beautiful white Cherubim glided down before us and nuzzled her. They seemed to have the relationship that Lokhem and I had before this day. The truth was that I didn't know what to feel anymore. I simply left them to wander the ruins with my empty, sad heart.
* * *
It wasn't until just before sunset that I realized I was hungry and cold. I ached all over, and my mind could not stop wandering aimlessly through a sea of despair. I knew that what they were saying was true. The memory of what my mother had told me the night she disappeared in my tenth winter re-surfaced to underline it all. At the time, I could not understand the story she was telling me. I believed her as a child would; listening, but not conceiving. Now, though, the fairytale was becoming a nightmare for which I was now being forced to live.
I found myself between two buildings when I pushed the memory back into a dark corner of my mind. It seemed that the city was also a part of the wasteland. I could find no water, and no food. The silence in my head seemed expectant, and the realization finally hit me that Lokhem had planned this. He had wanted me to see for myself that the Human race was at its end; beyond the shadow of a doubt.
My stomach growled and I was reminded of what Lokhem had said, that within a decade all life would cease to exist on Earth. That would mean that everyone I knew would be dead. Even Aleena and Ephram's baby would eventually be dead. I shook my head to clear it of my sad imaginings.
“Lokhem,” I said aloud. Somehow, I knew he was near; I could feel it. A faint huffing sound came from around the corner, and I saw him poke his head out.
“I didn't want you to feel smothered,” Lokhem said gently as he came out. I nodded, and sighed. My eyes couldn't bring forward anymore tears. One of my hands absently rubbed at his furry ear when he came close, and he gave me a small snarl smile.
“Come with me,” he urged quietly, “I want to show you something.”
My heart felt heavier than an old tree fallen to the ground, but I climbed onto Lokhem's back anyway. My hands dug into the fur at the back of his neck as he bounded forward and spread his wings. The rush of air on my face lifted my spirits a little.
We soared high above the city and up into the clouds. When we burst through the last fluffy cloud, I could see the sun setting across the vast desert that the Earth had become. There was a silence up among the clouds that seemed to fill me with an odd kind of peace.
“All that you see will be re-made when my kind is done with their work. It will be a paradise beyond words when we have finished collecting the humans from Earth,” Lokhem said in my mind. I leaned back and tried to picture it. When I couldn't, Lokhem filled my mind with images of vast forests and wild creatures that danced within them. He showed me great bodies of water for which my eyes could not see the ends. There was something he called, 'Rainbow,' that cast down from the heavens. It glowed with a multitude of color across the lands. I smiled at the thought of the Earth in that way.
“It is a delicate art, collecting the humans and taking them to their new home. It is a task for which I have been trained my whole life,” Lokhem said, disturbing my thoughts.
“So that's what you meant that night. This is what you trained for your whole life? Collecting us? Why? Aren't we easy to kill?” I thought with a bit of sarcasm. Lokhem sighed in slight frustration.
“The Death Dealers have dwelt among the humans for the length of Earth's history. They have been trained to understand their ways; to think in the same patterns as the human kind does. However, my kind, the Cherubim, have lived our entire lives within the confines of the High Realm of Megorim Habayit. We have been trained to open the door ways between our two worlds. This way, when a Death Dealer has found a human populous, the transitions are completed as quickly as possible. Our Guardian is a loving care giver. She did not wish for us to make the transition to our world hard on the human species. She considers them her children,” Lokhem replied with patience.
“Because killing your children quickly is better than doing it slowly,” I scoffed.
“Precisely,” Lokhem replied. I shook my head with dismay.
“Your Guardian is female?” I asked after a moment, curiosity getting the better of me.
“Yes and no. Our Guardian does not have a sex. However, in your language there isn't a respectful term for a deity that does not possess a gender,” Lokhem replied. We banked left and I looked down in time to see a grove of trees. My heart leapt with happiness.
“You're taking me home?” I asked happily.
“For now; you have not yet made your choice,” he responded.
“What choice?” I asked as we came to a hover. There was a moment of weightlessness before Lokhem's paws touched the ground.
“The only choice left,” Lokhem whispered in my mind. There was a sad quality in his voice that I couldn't figure out. Confusion filled me, but before I could question him further, Garhet emerged from the depths of the woods. It was then that I realized we had landed back in the meadow. I jumped down from Lokhem's back and ran into his arms. My forgiveness was immediate with that first touch. His actions, in light of what I now knew about Earth's past, seemed completely irrelevant.
However, our embrace did not last long. Strong arms ripped Garhet away. I drew my machete when I saw who had taken him away from me. There the Death Dealer from the city stood. Her arms were wrapped around Garhet in such a way that he could not work himself free. Her eyes had a certain kind of hardness in them. The kind of look that only a true born killer could possess.
“Stop! Stop her! She's hurting him!” I screamed at Lokhem.
“Choose, little Mal,” Lokhem replied firmly, his body tense.
“Choose what?” I nearly screamed when a blast of green fire twisted and wrought its way forward from the ground. The blast turned the grass all around us to ashes.
“Chose to accept this; to accept that what we do now, we do for him… Chose to let him go, or to die forever with him,” Lokhem replied. Despite the hard edge in his voice, I could detect the sorrow he was feeling. I knew he did not want to cause me pain.
The Death Dealer began backing toward the burning gateway with Garhet struggling in her arms. His terrified screams for help cut me to the bone. My teeth clenched. My heart slowed in my chest. My eyes found Garhet's, and something primal awoke within me.
I flew at her. My blade traced a high arc through the air. When she saw it coming for her throat, she barely managed to flit out of the way. She shoved Garhet to the ground as though he were no heavier than a twig. Her hand freed her sword from its place at her side. Her stance was strong, but I saw one fatal flaw in her posturing. As she lunged for me, I tucked and slid through the ashes on the ground. My blade came up just enough as I passed her to slice through the thick muscle beneath the back of her left knee. I watched in a feral crouch as a thick wave of black blood gushed down from the gaping wound.
Powerful claws dug into my back just as I was beginning to think I had saved Garhet. They tore my flesh so deeply, that I could hear the skin rip before I could feel the wounds open. I fell to my knees and found Garhet beside me. The Death Dealer's Cherubim stood over us. There was not a look of vengeance in her eyes, but a look of chagrin. It was then that I heard a deep groan of pain come from a short distance away. Lokhem groaned again, and slumped with deep slashes all the way down his back. I gasped when I remembered that the link worked both ways. What happened to him happened to me, and the same for the opposing direction.
“I'm so sorry, brother,” came the white Cherubim's soft voice, “I did not want to do that.”
“I know. I understand. Peace sister, Andola,” Lokhem whispered through his pain. The Death Dealer slowly turned and struggled to make her way toward Garhet and I once again. My mind searched for a way out of this mess. I grappled through the
sea of pain and terror I was feeling for some solution; any solution. Only one thought came to my mind.
“Garhet, repeat after me,” I whispered.
“Dear, Guardian,” I began, and bit down on my lip as a wave of pain cut through my back.
“Dear, Guardian,” Garhet repeated squeezing my hand. The look in his eyes was one of utter trust; but at the same time, it was also one of complete sadness. We both knew somehow that this was the end for both of us.
“Forgive me of my sins,” I whispered. I could feel hot blood flow down from my back.
“Forgive me of my sins,” Garhet repeated. The Death Dealer stopped at the sound of our words. A look of curiosity came into her eyes, erasing the murderous glare.
“Come into my heart and save me,” I said, and he repeated.
“Amen,” I added quietly. It was a word my mother had always said in the quiet of the night, and for some reason it just felt right to say it now. A deep peace settled within me then. My heart still ached for all the knowledge I knew and understood now, but I did feel better in this one regard; Garhet would be safe. Garhet would continue to live on; not in this world, but at least he would have a chance in theirs.
The Death Dealer slipped her sword back into its sheath and smiled. Oddly at that moment, she reminded me of my mother. Every bit of the murderous glare she had worn before disappeared. Andola went quickly to her side. They closed their eyes and pressed their foreheads together. When they parted the Death Dealer's leg was healed. Lokhem snarl smiled weakly at me. There was a kind of pleading in his mind that I could feel through our link. He wanted to try the same thing with me. I shook my head and told him to wait.
I lead Garhet over to a boulder a small distance away. The green fire of the gateway danced before us. I could see the fear in his eyes. He had never been that close to a gateway. Explaining all of what I had seen and heard at the city with Lokhem took a good deal of time, but in the end Garhet had to see the wasteland for himself in order to truly believe my words.